The Challenge
by Lady Jaye1
Summary: Naruto and Konohamaru fulfill their childhood promise and battle over who will become the next Hokage.


_I don't own Naruto._

**The Challenge**

"_From this day forward, we will be archrivals!"_

_Naruto blinked in surprise at the younger boy. Konohamaru glared determinedly at him before breaking into a smile. The young genin smirked back in reply._

"_It's your tough luck! From now on, I'll always be one step ahead of you, one step closer to my destiny as the finest shinobi!" Naruto proclaimed proudly to the wide eyed boy. _

"_But…heck!" Naruto added cheerfully. "One day we'll fight over the name Hokage. You'd better look forward to that day…Konohamaru!"_

…………………………………..

Konohamaru smirked silently as he secretly watched the three twelve year old genins waiting on the bridge. They cast their eyes warily around, as if waiting for a surprise attack.

This wasn't completely unfounded of course, since their sensei had a habit sneaking up on them.

"He's late!"

"No he's not idiot, he's probably watching us now."

Konohamaru rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he considered how to best surprise his students. He'd already used the Ninja Centerfold on them, so that wouldn't work. The twenty-seven year old jounin considered it a matter of pride that he never used the same trick on them twice.

"I'm tired of waiting!"

"Shut up Umino!"

"Bring it on Maito!"

_Those fools, _Konohamaru thought irately. _They should be paying attention to their surroundings. _He watched with wry amusement as Iruka's son and Gai's daughter continued to bicker over their predicament. The third genin, a young boy who had originally been born in the Land of Waves, attempted to ignore his comrades.

The jounin cast his eyes around before a new smirk crossed his face. Leaping quietly down from the tree branch, he performed a Genjutsu and waited. He padded quietly near to the bridge and whined. It didn't take long to get their attention.

"Hey look, a puppy!" The young Maito Misao bounded down to him, followed closely by Umino Kujira. Nazo Shizumeru, the third genin, merely rolled his eyes and ignored the excited pair.

Konohamaru made a show of backing away from the pair, as if frightened. He whined pitifully again and gave the saddest eyes that he could manage.

"Hey, it's okay, you don't need to be afraid," Kujira promised. Misao picked him up and carried him over to the bridge. Their third teammate looked at them with disinterest before his brown eyes suddenly widened.

"That's not a puppy you idiots!"

"Huh, what do you…?" they started.

_Poof._

"**AH! IT'S KONOHAMARU-SENSEI!"**

"Woof," Konohamaru said.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Naruto stared at the three people standing by the Hokage's desk. There was a twinkle in Kakashi's eye as he and the others smiled at him. Jiraiya had a pleased smirk on his face as Tsunade waited for the younger man to collect himself.

"You…you're stepping down?" Naruto asked, having a hard time believing that the day he had been striving for all his life had now come.

"Yes," Tsunade answered. "I'm quite ready, and as all of us have agreed, so are you." Naruto stared a moment before a wide grin grew across his face. He had just returned from an ANBU mission when he'd been summoned before the Hokage.

"Congratulations Naruto," Kakashi smiled. "Or should I say, Rokudaime?" There seemed to be a pause in the air before Naruto pumped his fist up in the air.

"Oh yeah! I did it! Believe it!" Naruto's smile faltered suddenly and the others looked at him in surprise.

"What is it?" Jiraiya asked. "I thought you'd be happy?" A sudden lecherous look crossed his face and he added slyly.

"I can think of a certain pink haired beauty who will be happy." Naruto's face reddened slightly at the mention of his new wife before turning serious.

"I am happy," Naruto admitted. "Happy…but burdened with a sense of duty. This won't be easy."

"No," Tsunade agreed, "It won't." Naruto paused as he looked out the window. He turned back to the others with a smirk.

"Tsunade…there's one thing I have to do before I can become Hokage," he said. Tsunade gave him a surprised look.

"What's that?" she asked. Naruto smirked as he walked towards the door.

"I have a promise to keep."

…………………………………………………………………………………….

Konohamaru made a show of glowering at his students while they did their laps around the village. The jounin had punished them for allowing themselves to fall into such a simple trap.

After being satisfied that they were sufficiently humbled, the twenty-seven year old began to work with them on their chakra control. Shizumeru, not surprisingly, had the best control. He had the most level head of the three. Misao, like her father and older sister, was showing extraordinary potential in Taijutsu. However, her Genjutsu skills were sadly pathetic.

Then there was Kujira, the smaller version of his father, Umino Iruka. Konohamaru had met a variety of people before, but he didn't think he had ever met such a temperamental and obstinate person in his life.

"Umino you little brat, calm down!" Konohamaru yelled.

"I'M NOT A BRAT!"

The twelve year old gulped as Konohamaru gave him his most menacingly glare. Too prideful to admit defeat, the young genin snorted and acted like it had all been his idea to back down. Konohamaru sighed and hid a smirk. One of these days, his genins were going to give him a heart attack.

If he didn't kill them first.

"All right," he said suddenly, "You three can take a ten minute break." Konohamaru watched them sit down before pulling out his favorite copy of Icha Icha Paradise.

He was chuckling at something three pages later when his instincts caused him to leap out of the way. Three shuriken were embedded in the ground where he had been formerly enjoying his book. Konohamaru looked to his right to see a certain blonde haired man grinning at him.

"Boss, just so you know, I was in the middle of my favorite part," Konohamaru complained. "You see, they had just gone down to the hot springs and she was taking off her…" He paused at the look on Naruto's face.

"What?" he asked. Naruto crossed his arms and smirked.

"It's time Konohamaru," he said. "Tsunade's stepping down." Konohamaru stared at him, caught somewhat off guard. Tsunade, he realized, must have already asked Naruto to take her place.

They locked gazes before a smirk also grew on Konohamaru's face. He snapped his book shut and stood up.

"Kujira, Misao, Shizumeru…go harass Ebisu-sensei," he ordered. The three genins gave each other questioning looks before standing up.

"But Sensei…." Misao complained. Konohamaru glared at them and they immediately turned and left. He turned back to the waiting Naruto.

"Let's do it under the Hokage Mountain," Naruto suggested. "That way my father and your grandfather can watch."

Konohamaru smiled.

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

"What do you think Naruto had to do?" Tsunade asked. Kakashi stared out of the window thoughtfully as he looked at the Yondaime's image on the mountain. Jiraiya chuckled suddenly as he crossed his arms.

"What?" Tsunade asked. Jiraiya shook his head as he joined Kakashi by the window.

"Naruto's going to fight Konohamaru," he answered. "He won't accept the title of Hokage until he does."

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

"Prepare to be defeated Chief," Konohamaru declared. Naruto grinned as he moved into a fighting stance. He studied the slightly shorter man as he thought back to the promise they had made sixteen years ago. They had both changed a lot since then. For instance, Konohamaru now wore his hair up in a high ponytail, much like Iruka.

He was also Jiraiya's number two fan, after Kakashi. Both men had a complete collection of the old pervert's books.

"Hah! I'll be Hokage, believe it!" Naruto yelled.

Both men seemed to vanish as the long awaited fight began. Konohamaru rolled his body sideways to avoid a blow from Naruto. He flipped back several meters, landed on his toes, and quickly made the signs of the monkey, the dragon, and the ram.

A giant whirlwind of air shot out at the Hokage to be, who gathered the chakra to his feet and leapt above the deadly maelstrom. Konohamaru grinned to himself.

_I knew this wasn't going to be easy, _he thought. He blocked a Taijutsu blow from Naruto. Konohamaru dropped onto his hands and kicked up, catching Naruto in the chin. The blonde jumped out of the way as the brunette spun around for another attack. His foot met empty air as Naruto slid behind him and threw several shuriken.

Konohamaru teleported out of the way and made some more hand signs. _Ox, tiger, serpent, dragon…_

A stream of dragon shaped fire spewed from the jounin's mouth, catching his blonde haired opponent of guard.

He realized a moment later that the Naruto he had hit had only been a substitution. That realization came a split second before his opponent's fist made contact with his left cheek.

Konohamaru grimaced as Naruto suddenly unleashed a few hundred clones to attack him. He spit out another flame attack, followed by a jutsu that caused the ground to turn to mud, effectively trapping about twenty more.

This of course, had been a diversion to keep Konohamaru from seeing the real Naruto behind him. He jumped out of the way to avoid a kick, which itself had also been a feint.

Naruto's Rasengan hit him hard in the stomach.

_Dammit, that's going to leave a mark!_

Konohamaru swore as jumped back, narrowly missing another Rasengan. He knew full well that Naruto wasn't using the Rasengan at its full strength. Even so, it still hurt like hell.

He grinned as he formed his chakra into a long whip. It lashed out, just catching Naruto across his right leg, causing him to yelp. Konohamaru twirled the deadly whip as he chased after his friend, who immediately vanished and reappeared behind him.

"_I'm _going to be Hokage," Naruto announced. He blinked suddenly as Konohamaru turned into a log. The ninja groaned mentally as the ground suddenly rose up and engulfed his feet.

The real Konohamaru punched him in the face.

Naruto responded by forming five hundred clones. There was a loud poof as they all suddenly turned into a harem of naked blonde women.

"Hah! Harem no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as he freed his feet. Konohamaru froze before glaring irately at the other man.

"That's not going to work you Baka!" he shouted. As if to prove his point, the brunette reached out his hands to grope two of the female clones.

_Thwack! Thwack!_

Two large handprints formed on the face of the surprised jounin. There was a sudden rumble as the whole harem suddenly converged on him, raining a deadly storm of slaps upon the unfortunate man.

"Gah!" Konohamaru yelled. Naruto laughed at him.

"Hah! That's my Slap no Jutsu!"

Konohamaru quickly made the hand signs for the vanishing jutsu and escaped from the harem of angry female clones. He wobbled slightly from the ordeal before unleashing his chakra whip on the harem, destroying them with a few flicks of his wrist.

"You can't beat me," Naruto warned. Konohamaru smiled.

_I have no intention of beating you, Naruto._

The jounin made a sudden movement with his hands as Naruto unleashed Kakashi's Chidori attack. A protective wall of hard earth bore the blunt of the attack.

_I've already reached my goal, _Konohamaru silently told him. _I'm not the Sandaime's grandson anymore, I'm Konohamaru. I'm a respected jounin of this village…an ANBU elite._

Naruto used the power of Kyuubi to bring the earth wall down with a thunderous crash. The two men fought hand to hand for several long seconds, with Konohamaru mostly on the defensive. The older man was by far the faster and the stronger of the two.

The brunette gave a grunt as Naruto struck him in the chest with two fingers, sending him tumbling back. Konohamaru rebounded with the Leaf Spinning Wind, a technique that he had conned off of Rock Lee.

_Naruto…You are the reason that I am the man I am today. You were right, there ARE no shortcuts…_

"You missing something Konohamaru?" Naruto taunted cheerfully. He waved the brunette's copy of Icha Icha Paradise at him

"Hey!" Konohamaru yelled. "That's mine!"

_Naruto, I have no intention of becoming Hokage. I gave that up years ago. Konoha needs you in charge, not me._

"Hey!" Naruto yelled in surprise. "This is the book that Kakashi helped to write!"

Konohamaru ran forward and threw several shuriken, which Naruto dodged. The brunette leaned back to avoid the other man's own barrage of shuriken. With a few hand movements, Konohamaru made five clones to distract his friend as he used his Ninjutsu to form some earth into a shower of hardened needles.

_You forced me to always strive to be better, _Konohamaru thought. Naruto formed a shield of the Kyuubi's chakra around him as a barrier against the earth needles. The blonde ninja then transformed until two tails of the kitsune's chakra became visible.

Konohamaru used a substitution jutsu to escape, but Naruto had anticipated it. The Kyuubi's chakra caught the brunette and slammed him into a tree. Stars flew in the jounin's eyes as he stumbled to his feet and moved.

_It was better to move, always to move_, he constantly drilled into his students. _Don't just stand there Maito, move! If you don't move, you're dead!_

Determined, Konohamaru pushed his chakra even more. He knew full well that he would run out of energy before Naruto. The brunette had eventually learned the true fate of the Kyuubi.

_Grandpa…Have I become the man you would have wanted? Am I a ninja worthy of the name Konohamaru?_

An attack from Naruto forced Konohamaru back. The blonde spun around and delivered a devastating kick to the younger man's stomach. Konohamaru landed with a thud. He groaned before rolling to his feet.

He froze when he realized that Naruto was holding a kunai to his throat.

"Do you yield?" Naruto asked. His blue eyes had an unreadable expression in them. Konohamaru looked up at him before quirking his lips up into a smile.

"I yielded a long time ago," he admitted. There was a pause as a considering look came into those blue eyes.

"I know," Naruto said. There was another pause. "I'm going to be depending on you and your team," he continued. Konohamaru nodded his head in understanding. Naruto suddenly broke into a characteristic grin as he held a hand down to the younger man.

"Come on Konohamaru," the Rokudaime said. "I'll buy you some ramen."

………………………………………………


End file.
